Hello!
My name is Miriam Rainwater; I plan to be a campus minister at Portland State University in September and would like to share my testimony with you!
During the 2012-13 school year, I interned at my Alma Mater’s BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries). Last November, I had an opportunity to share the Christmas story with Taylor, the new believer I have had the opportunity to disciple over the last year. She had never heard it before and she grew up in GA; that challenged my thinking. I remember watching her leave my office and then stumbling into one of my campus ministers’ office and busting into tears, sobbing “Where have all the Christians been?” Through that experience the Lord sweetly confirmed my call to campus ministry that I might tell the Christmas story (and other stories of Jesus) over and over again.
My name is Miriam Rainwater; I plan to be a campus minister at Portland State University in September and would like to share my testimony with you!
During the 2012-13 school year, I interned at my Alma Mater’s BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries). Last November, I had an opportunity to share the Christmas story with Taylor, the new believer I have had the opportunity to disciple over the last year. She had never heard it before and she grew up in GA; that challenged my thinking. I remember watching her leave my office and then stumbling into one of my campus ministers’ office and busting into tears, sobbing “Where have all the Christians been?” Through that experience the Lord sweetly confirmed my call to campus ministry that I might tell the Christmas story (and other stories of Jesus) over and over again.
I began praying about the Western region
of the U.S., knowing that it was the most unreached, specifically the NorthWest
region. In late January, the Lord opened up an opportunity to interview with a
church planter named Ken in Portland, Oregon about a need at Portland State
University (PSU).
I had been having dreams about a campus; I’d been walking through campus and
meeting/praying over students over and over, night after night. When I would wake up, I would feel the Presence of the Spirit very
strongly and feel compelled to pray for those students as if they were real. When I explained the dreams to one of my friends, she asked me if I had looked up what Portland State looked like
since I’d been praying about going there. I hadn’t. We Googled it together and
found pictures of buildings just as I had described them.
I knew at that point that I was supposed
to go to Oregon but I was afraid about the process of support-raising. Yet, later
that night on the way home as I was talking to God about my future, the person
on the highway in front of me stopped dead still for no apparent reason. As I
came to a stop behind them, I looked up to see a bumper sticker the shape of an
Oregon Trail wagon with the words, “Go West. Oregon State.” I was baffled. The next morning the Lord lead me to
Isaiah 24:14: “They shall lift up their voices, they shall sing for joy; over
the majesty of the LORD they shall cry aloud from the West!” I still ignored
Him. The next night I found myself at a missions conference; as we sang during the opening session, the Lord convicted me of not living obediently. All I could say
was “Lord, I’m going to Oregon.”
The Lord only continued to confirm that
decision for me. A week and a half after surrendering to go, I was on the
ground in Portland for a field visit. As I walked campus, I knew places around campus from my dreams. I even
got to see and meet the very students whom I had been praying over for months! The first day I
was in Portland, I realized that I would be starting a campus ministry by
myself. I began praying for expanded
ministry, specifically for a guy to join in ministry at PSU to do men’s discipleship on campus. Two days
later, Ken received a call from Joshua who had done
short-term work in Portland a few summers before and who wanted to be a campus minister at Portland State. Yet another confirmation that ministry at Portland State was our Father's heart! The Lord has continued to expand our team and several members of the Body of Christ in Portland have helped us throughout the year.
Out of the college students at PSU, 80% of them claim to
have no religious beliefs at all, and of the other 20%, the majority are
Catholic, Mormon, or Buddhist. Along with holding Bible studies on campus,
doing outreach projects, connecting with other campus organizations, and discipling
one-on-one, we work with nearby church plants, helping connect
students with the Body of Christ. This year four students are serving on a leadership team; I am excited to be a part of encouraging and training them for the future. Only 2% of the population of Oregon claims to
have a relationship with Christ. We have confidence that the Lord wants to use
us to be a part of changing that and seeing the gospel spread from campus to
the city to the nation to the world!
To keep up with what God is doing at PSU, I hope you'll bookmark the blog. To read more about how to become a part of my financial team, go HERE.
"Now unto Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us--to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever! Amen!" (Eph. 3:20-21)
"Now unto Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us--to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever! Amen!" (Eph. 3:20-21)
That His glory might revealed,
Miriam
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